Florida Dems To Bill McCollum: You Owe The Taxpayers $120,000

The Florida Democratic Party is blasting Attorney General Bill McCollum for "fiscal recklessness" and demanding that his campaign reimburse the state for the money paid to "expert witness" Dr. George Rekers.

Karen Thurman, head of the Florida Dems, writes:

Even more disturbing than the total amount paid to Mr. Rekers is the fact that he was paid almost double what was agreed upon for his discredited testimony. While Mr. Rekers was supposed to receive only $60,900 in taxpayer money, in a glaring case of incompetence, your office neglected to have Mr. Rekers sign a contract capping his fee. This allowed him to bill the State of Florida another $59,793, which your office then approved. Furthermore you personally lobbied for Mr. Rekers to testify even though in 2004 a judge in Arkansas called Mr. Rekers’ testimony “extremely suspect”. It is troubling that you would allow such incompetence and abuse of our tax dollar, and it calls into serious question whether you are capable of performing the most basic functions of your office, much less that of Governor. Sadly for Florida, this fiscal recklessness is only the latest disturbing example in a long line of instances where your office wasted state funds to further your political ambitions or partisan ideology.

Thurman concludes that anything less than a full reimbursement "would be an affront to the taxpayers of our state."